


Sleepless Nights and Dog Tags

by dersedaises



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 19:06:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3261020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dersedaises/pseuds/dersedaises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Combeferre has been off fighting for so long and Courfeyrac worries about him every day; unfortunately his friends begin to take notice and Courfeyrac becomes the one people start to worry about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleepless Nights and Dog Tags

The first thing Courfeyrac noticed when he woke up was that he had a terrible crick in his neck, the second thing he noticed was that he had this terrible crick in his neck because he had fallen asleep on the couch… again. It’s not like he did it on purpose, he really didn’t plan on having a horrible night sleep more often than a good one and waking up feeling like someone had brutally stepped on his neck.

He sat up and rolled his neck back and forth, an unhappy groan escaping from his lips as he tried to will his body into waking up.

“Rough night?” a sympathetic voice asked behind him, and he recognized that it belonged to his roommate Marius.

“Yeah, you could say that,” he chuckled sadly, his hands dropping down into his lap where he noticed the soft blanket that hadn’t been on him the night before, “thanks for the blanket Marius.” he called over his shoulder.

He could hear Marius’ soft chuckle behind him coming from the kitchen, “Don’t thank me yet.” He mumbled, and before Courfeyrac could turn around and ask what he meant a pair of hands came from behind him and covered his eyes.

“Guess who?” a melodic voice practically sang in his ear.

Courfeyrac shook his head fondly as he smiled, “Marius how long has this Disney princess been in our apartment?” he teased.

Cosette laughed sweetly at that and dropped her hands to Courfeyrac’s shoulders, “Morning Courf,” she spoke as she leaned over the back of the couch to press a kiss to Courfeyrac’s cheek in greeting.

Marius came around the couch and handed Courfeyrac a cup of coffee as Cosette did the same but curled up next to Courfeyrac while Marius preferred to occupy the old red armchair with his own mug.

Courfeyrac gave Marius a nod of thanks for the much-needed coffee before he turned and raised an eyebrow to the blonde girl that was currently resting her head on his shoulder, “So what brings you to our humble apartment? Usually Marius goes over to yours when he wants to see you.” Courfeyrac asked as he brought the warm mug to his lips.

Cosette picked her head up off of Courfeyrac’s shoulder and smiled brightly, “Yes well, we’re hear for an intervention.”

Courfeyrac has to forcibly swallow the coffee in his mouth so as to not spit it out, “Intervention? For who?” he asked, surprised at the casual answer.

“For you.” Marius answered from his spot on the armchair.

“Me? Why me?” Courfeyrac looked between the two of them, not quite understanding what was happening but having a sick feeling begin to settle into his stomach.

“Well lately we’ve been ah- It’s just that we noticed lately that you haven’t exactly been your um- and uh- Cosette?” Marius’ face had turned slightly pink as he looked to his girlfriend for support.

“Right,” Cosette took over and look directly at Courfeyrac, “it’s about Combeferre.”

Courfeyrac could practically feel his blood run cold at the name, the room had fallen into a still silence, Courfeyrac blinked, “What about him?” he asked slowly, the normal cheeriness in his voice replaced with something colder.

Marius began to answer, “Well he’s been gone for a while and we know that you-“

“What do you know Marius?” Courfeyrac interjected sharply, his voice rising in volume, “What do any of you know?” he snapped.

He felt like a child throwing a tantrum but he couldn’t help it, all the anger he had been harboring had him on edge. He would have unloaded it all on poor Marius if not for Cosette’s gentle hand on his arm bringing him back down to Earth.

“Courfeyrac,” she spoke softly but even just his name out of her mouth was enough to make him feel guilty for his little outburst, “this is what we’re trying to say. You haven’t been yourself lately, you’re so quick to snap these days, your smile isn’t really there, your laugh isn’t quite right, we know you miss Combeferre, we all do, but we want you to tell us how you’re feeling so we can help.” She spoke kindly and Courfeyrac could feel all of his previous anger slowly melting away into the aching sadness that was currently taking residence in his chest.

When he didn’t speak for a moment and looked down at his coffee Cosette began again, “Marius told me you fall asleep on this couch every night watching his favorite movies, you haven’t taken his dog tags off for two months, you only leave the apartment when you absolutely have to.” She paused and took a deep breath, “We’re worried about you Courf.”

Courfeyrac shook his head softly and turned to look at Cosette, when her pink lips turned down into a frown he figured he must really look as tired as he felt, “You’re worried about me? How could you be worried about me when literally any second in any day, Combeferre could be dead and we wouldn’t even know it, do you know how much that weighs on a person after two years?" he took a moment to collect himself then spoke again, his eyes shut, " The not knowing, the anxiety… I’m so tired Cosette and I miss him so much.” His voice trailed off softly at the end as one hand began to idly play with the metal tags around his neck.

“Do you think Combeferre would want you to be like this? Antsy and snappy and not whole without him? You’re such an amazing person Courfeyrac you can’t let this stop you from living your life.” Cosette spoke gently while she reached for the hand that was playing with the dog tags and held it in her own.

“She’s right Courf, while you’re stuck in our apartment missing Combeferre all of your friends are missing you.” Marius added.

Courfeyrac chewed on his bottom lip as he looked between his two friends, “It’s just… I miss him so much,” he paused, trying to keep his voice even and shook his head with a sad laugh, “and I always feel like I’m about to cry, I’m so tired of feeling like this, I want to feel like me again but I’m just exhausted and I want to be normal but I don’t know what normal is.” He practically whispered, tears welling up in his eyes and threatening to fall now, “I love him so much and of course I’d wait for him forever but this not knowing this- this uncertainty is too much.” He sniffed and brought his hand away from Cosette to wipe the tear away that has escaped down his cheek.

“That’s why we’re here,” Cosette spoke again with a gentle sigh while she reached for Courfeyrac’s mug and placed it on the coffee table across from them, “we want to help in anyway we can-”

“But we don’t want to overstep or make you uncomfortable.” Marius added in quickly.

“Right, so tell us when you’re not up for something and what it is you want to do.” She prompted with a small smile on her face.

Courfeyrac gave a small sad smile and look at the two of his friends, “Thank you both, this means so much to me really, it’s just…” he paused and took a deep breath, “you might have to be patient with me.”

Cosette actually laughed at this and Courfeyrac could practically feel a weight being lifted off his shoulders, “Don’t worry so much Courf,” she smiled and Courfeyrac could feel himself smiling too despite himself, “we’re going to have fun, okay? We’ll go out to that diner down the street you love later and maybe see a movie; we’ve got to get you out of this apartment, I’d be depressed too if I had to stay in this place all day.” She teased and Courfeyrac really could just hug her.

“Don’t say that,” he warned and cast a glance over to wear Marius was sitting with a pout on his face, “your boyfriend decorated the place.”

Cosette rolled her eyes with a smirk on her face, ”I can tell.” She said, which prompted a “hey!” from Marius.

Courfeyrac felt a tired smile tug at his lips as he sighed softly, he was grateful for Marius and Cosette, he really was, they didn’t have to do this yet here they were making sure that Courfeyrac was alright.

“Hey,” Cosette nudged her knee against Courfeyrac’s to get his attention and when he looked over to her she had a small smile on her face, “you seem tired, why don’t you go back to sleep for a bit and we’ll come back later to pick you up for dinner?”

“That’s-“ he paused and let a small genuine smile grace his features, again he felt a swell of love for Cosette and Marius in his chest, “yeah that sounds great.”

Cosette smiled brightly and move up off the couch then held her hand out for Courfeyrac to take so she could bring him to his room, however he just eyed her hand warily.

“I can’t really sleep in my bed too well anymore, it’s ah- it’s too big without him and it just makes me upset so I’ve been on the couch for a while and-“ he paused when he noticed the frown Cosette wore, “we can deal with that later though.” He promised.

Cosette just rolled her eyes fondly with a slight sigh before she leaned down to press a kiss to Courfeyrac’s cheek, “We’ll come back around six,” she explained as she walked over to Marius to take his hand instead, “get ready to have the best night of your life.” She smiled and led Marius up out of his armchair.

“Okay,” Courfeyrac chuckled as the two made their way to the door, “I’ll see you two later and just- thanks.” He said softly and Cosette blew him a kiss while Marius waved in parting.

As the door shut behind them Courfeyrac sighed once again, he pulled the blanket that was on his waist up around his shoulders and lay down on the couch once again, this time falling into a much more peaceful rest.

\----

When Courfeyrac woke up again the lighting in the apartment was much dimmer and he looked across the room to read the clock on the wall to find that it was nearing 5 in the afternoon. He wanted to feel guilty for practically sleeping the entire day away but the crick in his neck was gone and he was excited about going out with Cosette and Marius so he decided to let it slide.

He sat up straight and yawned as he stretched out his stiff muscles, and it was then the he felt pair of large hands wrap around him and cover his eyes.

“Marius while I appreciate you trying to make me feel better you should get some new material because Cosette did the exact same thing to me this morning.” He teased with a smile, he thought the act was sweet if not a bit strange seeing as Cosette had told him they’d be back an hour from now.

A deep chuckle came from behind him; and Courfeyrac thought it couldn’t be Marius as his voice was higher than that so Courfeyrac reasoned it was probably either Grantiare or Bahorel, although he wasn’t sure how either of them could have gotten into his apartment…

“Ah, that is a very Cosette-like thing to do,” the voice spoke and Courfeyrac felt himself sit up straighter at the familiar tone, “should have considered her before I tried being romantic.”

Courfeyrac swallowed thickly and felt his stomach practically erupt with butterflies, no, he thought, it couldn’t be. He reached up slowly to place his hands on top of the ones covering his eyes and ever so slowly he moved them away and stood up off the couch while turning around to see if his suspicions were correct.

His heart skipped a beat.

Or two.

There in front of him on the other side of the couch stood Combeferre, a small grin on his tired features, in fact everything about him seemed tired, his rumpled clothes, how it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a week, his… his… Courfeyrac couldn’t see much any more as his eyes were beginning to blur with tears. 

“Hi Fey.” It was two words but that was all it took for Courfeyrac to simultaneously let out a sob and climb across the couch in a manner that wasn’t very graceful so he could throw his arms around Combeferre’s neck for a tight hug.

“Oh my God,” he sobbed and repeated the phrase over and over again into Combeferre’s neck, he could hardly catch his breath, his mind was reeling, “You’re home you’re here I- wait why are you here you’re not supposed to be back for like another year?” he rushed the words out and pulled away slightly just so he could look at Combeferre in question. 

Combeferre hesitated for a moment and brought one of his hands up from where it was wrapped around Courfeyrac’s middle to wipe away some of the wetness on the curly haired man’s cheek, “Got hurt.” Was all he said, but it was enough to send Courfeyrac’s mind reeling again.

“You got- oh my God Combeferre what happened are you okay?” he asked frantically and looked Combeferre up and down to look for any signs of a serious problem, when he looked back up to Combeferre he found the other man was simply staring at him with his bottom lip in between his teeth.

This just made Courfeyrac more nervous, why wouldn’t Combeferre tell him what was wrong? He was about to ask him how serious it was when Combeferre ducked his head down to press their lips together in a firm kiss.

Courfeyrac couldn’t help it, he melted into it and brought himself closer to Combeferre, his arms wrapping back around him tightly.

Unfortunately it wasn’t exactly the passionate reunion kiss Courfeyrac had been hoping for as what Combeferre had said was still tugging at the back of his mind, “Ferre” he whispered against his lips but before he continue Combeferre connected their lips together again, “Ferre I mean it I-“ he tried again by pulling away slightly but again Combeferre distracted him by pushing him up against the back of the couch and moving his head down to attach his lips to his neck now.

“Combeferre!” he exclaimed, causing the other man to stop and pick his head up to look down at Courfeyrac who could feel his cheeks turning red from the sudden affection, “Tell me what happened.” He tried to speak firmly but he could tell his voice was wavering slightly. 

Combeferre licked his lips in thought and brought a hand up to tuck some of Courfeyrac’s wayward curls behind his ear, “I got hurt so I’m home for seven months on recovery and then I go back.” He stated simply, not exactly able to meet Courfeyrac’s eyes.

“Seven months?” he repeated, his voice breathless with excitement yet he felt a mix of emotions still turning inside him, “I- okay that’s a long time, why are you home for such a long time?” he needed to keep his thoughts on track here.

The other man sighed and shook his head slightly, “I don’t want you to worry I-“

“Combeferre I literally worry about you everyday when you’re not here this makes no difference.”

Combeferre traced the pad of his thumb over Courfeyrac’s cheek gently and shrugged his shoulders lightly, “Got shot,” he mumbled, but the words were clear to Courfeyrac, “passed through my thigh, wasn’t too bad but… it’ll take a while to recover.”

Courfeyrac couldn’t help but gasp at this, the tears in his eyes returning as he imagined the pain Combeferre must have gone through, “Oh my god Ferre I-“

“No it’s okay,” he promised softly and leaned down to press his forehead against Courfeyrac’s, “really it’ll be fine, I already took care of most of the physical healing now it's more mental rest.” He practically whispered and brushed their lips together gently.

“I missed you so much,” Courfeyrac confessed, “I wanted you back so badly but –“ he paused and swallowed thickly to stop the crack in his voice.

Combeferre moved his head slightly to kiss the tear that had fallen down Courfeyrac’s cheek, “It’s going to be okay.” He promised again.

“Will it?” Courfeyrac whispered softly, not sure if he believed what the dark skinned man was saying to be true.

“Yeah, I think it will.” Combeferre spoke and Courfeyrac could hear the honesty in his voice, he leaned up to connect their lips again and for a moment, he actually believed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
